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Friday, 7 December 2012

Interview with David Lear, Editor at Firestone Books

Firestone Books, a new publishing company set up by David Lear, are now
open for un-solicited submissions from writers. As well as novels, they accept
short story collections. This being fairly rare to find I thought it’d be a
good idea to have David along to the blog to chat about Firestone, and what
they’re looking for.

Hi David. Tell us a little about yourself.

Aside from my interest in fiction, I’ve had fun over the last few years
learning circus skills (mainly acrobatic tumbling), drawing, genealogy, geology
and trying to fathom the strange universe that is quantum mechanics.

I also met three killers before the age of eight, and saw a ghost when I
was a child. Luckily my adult life has been less frightening!

Why did you want to start up your own publishing company?

I’d always enjoyed writing and had a story published in an anthology a
couple of years back. When I got my copy of the book I noticed a few
errors and I wondered if I could do a better job. This idea quickly
mutated into dreams of setting up a publishing company.

What makes Firestone Books different to other publishing companies?

Our first two anthologies contain the earliest science fiction tales
ever, dating back two thousand years. As far as I’m aware we’re the only
company to have put together such anthologies.

For the moment at least, we’re more likely to accept submissions than
other publishers. We have at least half a dozen slots to fill, so we’re well
worth approaching.

I also have ideas which I daren’t mention just yet (sorry), but if I can
pull one of them off it’ll bring a host of readers (and new authors) to
Firestone Books.

What kind of submissions are you
accepting?

We're currently accepting science fiction, fantasy,
crime, mystery and horror fiction. These can be novels or short story
collections. We're not accepting poetry, plays, picture books or
individual short stories, I'm afraid. To contradict myself slightly, if
an author had say three titles published by us and the titles were selling
well, we would consider publishing either poetry or plays by that author.

When you're reading a manuscript, what do you look for?

Aside from following the submission guidelines which my colleague has
mentioned on the website, I’m looking for good, commercial fiction. I
want a good plot and interesting characters. Prose should be easy on the
eye, rather than intellectually demanding. I’d love to sign a modern day
Virginia Woolf, but it would be even better to sign the next JK Rowling.

What can a writer do to make their submission stand out?

Following the guidelines is a good start. It is very easy to
overlook something a publisher has asked for. The cover letter is vital
and writers should sell themselves as much as possible here. If a writer
has had stories published elsewhere and they have their own website, it shows
both talent and commitment, and can tip the balance in their
favour.

What should they absolutely not do?

Disregarding the submission guidelines is probably fatal. A
genuine mistake is completely forgivable. We’re happy for writers to
simultaneously submit their work elsewhere, as long as were notified of this.

When you take a writer on, what can they expect from Firestone Books?

The writer will either have an eBook contract or both an eBook and
paperback contract. If it’s the latter then the author will receive six
complimentary copies of their book. In both cases profits will be split
fifty-fifty between the writer and publisher, which is pretty generous.

If they have an eBook only contract, they can choose the length of the
contract (between one and five years), and if their eBook sells five hundred copies
or more, the writer will be automatically entitled a paperback contract.

Authors who have paperback contracts can get involved in creating the
cover if they want to. We’re hoping to use the very talented Stuart Bache, who
has created covers for the likes of Stephen King and John le Carré.

We won’t
ask for a cut of film, TV and other rights, which is something many publishers
do. The author will retain all these rights.

And what do you expect from the writer?

I hope our authors will be up for interviews with magazines, as this
will be one of our main marketing methods.

I also see Firestone Books as an investor in authors, rather than in
books. By this I mean that we’d hope to publish more than one book by any
author we sign. Having twenty four books by twenty four writers isn’t
good. It’s harder to manage, and returning readers will be disappointed
to see their writer only has one published work. Having six authors with
four books is a much better state of affairs, so I hope authors, in the long
term, will be looking to submit more than one book to us.

Tell us what's coming up for Firestone in the next year.

Our two early science fiction anthologies will be
coming out in paperback in the next few months and I’m looking forward to
welcome the first few writers aboard.

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Thanks, David – that all sounds fantastic. I like
that you see investing in writers as important, and it’s heartening that you
accept short story collections too.

Hello

I'm Teresa - published fiction writer and professional ghostwriter. If you'd like to read some of my published short stories you'll find extracts in the 'fiction' tab. Current project here on the blog: Quotes From My Teenage Diaries. Join me as I re-read and share extracts from my earliest diaries.